The Determinants of State-Level Antitrust Enforcement

While there has been a considerable literature exploring determinants of antitrust enforcement in the United States, studies have been based either on aggregate federal enforcement data over time (exploring cyclical influences) or cross-industry studies, usually for a single year or aggregated over several years. What has never been investigated is the pattern of state-level antitrust. This is somewhat surprising, as this has been a major activity of many state Attorneys General. In this paper, we explain state antitrust enforcement across states and time (for a 15-year period), examining a number of economic and political determinants which have been proposed in the literature.antitrust enforcement

Smoking and Mortality Among US Astronauts

Astronauts have lower age-specific mortality risk than the U.S. general population from all natural causes of death, particularly cardiovascular disease and cancer. Yet, understanding if they are as healthy as their backgrounds predict they should be, requires that epidemiologists understand (and measure) all potentially confounding exposures in this cohort. Tobacco smoking prevalence has been measured in the U.S. astronaut cohort, but its impact on mortality has not been previously assessed. If smoking history has a negative impact on mortality, this could confound attempts to measure the relative health of astronauts

Maintaining New Markets: Determinants of Antitrust Enforcement in Central and Eastern Europe

While others have examined the implementation and/or the stringency of enforcement of antitrust laws in post-socialist economies, this paper is the first study that attempts to explain the determinants of antitrust enforcement activity across post-socialist countries using economic and political variables. Using a panel of ten European post-socialist countries over periods ranging from 4 to 11 years, we find a number of significant determinants of enforcement in these countries. For example, larger economies engage in more antitrust enforcement, and countries have tended to increase their enforcement efforts over time. Our results also suggest that countries characterized by more unionization and less corruption tend to engage in greater antitrust enforcement of all types. Countries more successful in privatizing have filed fewer cases, while more affluent or developed countries investigate fewer cases of all types, consistent with an income-shifting motivation for antitrust.Antitrust Enforcement, Central and Eastern Europe, Competition Policy JEL classification: L4, P3

Trade Policy and Antitrust: Do Consumers Matter to Legislators?

We provide one of the first efforts to measure the importance of consumer preferences in legislators’ trade policy decisions by estimating the degree to which the level of antitrust enforcement in the legislator’s state impacts his or her vote on free trade agreements. To the extent that antitrust and trade liberalization are both viewed as proconsumer in nature, we would expect to see a positive relationship between antitrust enforcement in their legislative district and Congressional votes in support of trade liberalization. We find evidence suggesting that consumer preferences do play a role in legislative decisions on trade policy.Free Trade Agreements, Competition Policy, Antitrust, Voting

EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INSTRUCTION IN ORAL HYGIENE FOR MENTALLY RETARDED BOYS

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66133/1/j.1752-7325.1974.tb00668.x.pd

The Mortality of Space Explorers

Outer space exploration poses unique risks to human survival. Here, we review the current literature on United States astronauts and Soviet and Russian cosmonauts and provide updated and original research findings. As in previous research, both astronauts and cosmonauts are shown to have reduced risk of death by natural causes, particularly from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, compared with appropriately matched general populations. Simultaneously, space explorers are at increased risk of death by external forces, particularly accidents such as plane crashes and spacecraft accidents. In total, both astronauts and cosmonauts are at reduced risk of all-cause mortality in comparison to the general populations of the United States and Russia. However, in comparison to astronauts, cosmonauts have been at equal risk of accidental death, but increased risk of death by chronic disease. We conjecture that the lack of risk from chronic disease may be due to the excellent health and medical monitoring of space explorers coupled with the deliberate attempts to limit their radiation exposure levels below those that would be detrimental. The differences in the astronaut and cosmonaut mortality experiences are likely due to lifestyle factors and the background rates of mortality in the two nations